TWIN LAKES -- The Twin Lakes Village Board set a July 6 special meeting to discuss a decision by the village for the Twin Lakes Police Department to retain a K-9 officer after his partner put in his two weeks' notice.
A news release from the village administrator Thursday, July 2 said, "The Village Board recognizes the efforts of the Twin Lakes community over the past 24 hours in support of K-9 Rex being sold to Officer Patla. The Village President has asked that this topic be revisited."
The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Village Hall.
After Officer Joe Patla put in his two weeks' notice, the village board said "fine," but members will not let the officer keep the dog.
"The village board made the decision last night, and we've done extensive research since learning of Officer Patla leaving the department. And we've made the decision that we're going to retain Rex as a member of our community," Chief Grosz said.
Officer Patla can go, but his K-9 companion Rex must stay with the police department.
"It has been the agreement from the beginning that if Officer Patla chose to leave that the animal would remain property of Twin Lakes," Grosz said.
Since the announcement was made, pushback from the village's residents was immediate. Petitions started floating around online to keep the pair together. Many claim their tax dollars paid for the dog -- and they should decide where the animal goes. But the police chief said that is not the case.
"We created a separate fund, a K-9 fund, gathered donations from the community for that fund. But it was always under the agreement that the village would retain property, ownership, of the animal throughout its career," Grosz said.
However, if the community were able to get the department a new trained K-9 to fill Rex's void, the chief said he would bring it to the village board for discussions.
Officer Patla issued this statement to FOX6 News Wednesday evening:
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